Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I agree that Philly shouldn't be on this list... It's light years ahead of other cities -- its darn near European in terms of its scope, age and diversity.... It is one of the historic Big 4, old (100+ years) rapid/rail systems: NYC, Boston, Philly and Chicago... these 4 have been joined by (imho) 2 more modern systems/cities in the last 40 years: D.C. and SF... So none of these 6 mega-systems should be counted as "other systems" I don't care how popular Philly is as a city.
... btw, I voted for Cleveland... It's a rare Midwestern city which has typical moderate density but, yet, has an older, well-established rail system given the city's size. (and it's about to get regional Amtrak with some commuter rail aspects).
Maybe B/C Philly isn't as popular as the other cities mentioned..
I didn't know this was a popularity contest. I thought it was a discussion of which cities have good public transportation systems. Philadelphia should have been on the original post, not the list on which to vote.
I vote for Los Angeles. People tend to focus on rail so much that they don't always notice a good bus based system. L.A. has rail, and the planned expansions are going to really move L.A. into the top tier, but for the moment it is still primarily a bus based system, and a very good one at that.
^LA has about 80 miles of (heavy & Light rail) rapid transit and 400 miles of commuter rail. And new lines are on the way, like the Santa Monica LRT... LA's at the doorstep of the mega-transit cities, if not already there... As an American, I'm proud of LA. Less than 2 decades ago, all LA had was sprawl, a small downtown, bitter memories of the Big Red Cars interurban and a bunch of skeptics who laughed at the idea that ANY Angelo would give up their cars. Now they've got a growing downtown and tons of TOD along rail lines and hundreds of thousands every day enjoying their rail (I understand the Blue Line is the busiest single LRT line in the USA... Now tons of tourist and other visitors zip over on the (heavy) Red Line trains, from downtown, Union Station to trendy Hollywood & Vine!!
LA's public transportation is very good. It needs work, of course, especially on the west side (where the buses are packed and get stuck in traffic along with all the cars) but it's perhaps surprisingly easy to live in LA without driving. I did, with no problems. It has good regional connections, too, with extensive commuter rail and easy connections on Amtrak. Once that subway to the sea is finally a reality I think it will be ready to move into top-tier status.
I have experience living in Minneapolis without a car, too, and while it's certainly doable to live there without driving (and there are many people who don't own cars) it's not the norm, and it's tougher than in LA, and of course tougher than the top tier cities. I have a hard time not getting depressed about public transportation in the Twin Cities, though, as many of the public officials (and even public) see public transportation primarily as a means of getting commuters to and from downtown during regular work hours and not as part of a broader network. Public transportation options are okay, but at the glacial pace things are moving it's going to fall way behind most other big cities on this count. On the other hand, it's a very pro-biking as transportation place, more so than anywhere else I've lived (and has the second highest number of bike commuters in the country; not bad for somewhere with extreme weather!). I'm not a biker myself, but it does make it easier for some of my family and friends to either live without a car or to minimize use of their cars.
Oops, I see I forgot to vote for Philadelphia. I agree that should be an obvious city with good transportation options.
Isn't Portland an obvious one, too? Sometimes it gets old hearing people talk up Portland's public transportation all the time.
Looking at this backwards, I think SF's system isn't as wonderful as some say. It's good, of course, and it's easy to live without a car in many areas, but given the amount of praise heaped on it I was expecting something more impressive. Getting to and from downtown from anywhere is usually really easy, but try getting somewhere like the Caltrain station from some parts of town (or to and from many points that aren't downtown) and it can take forever, far longer than it should in a city that small.
Looking at this backwards, I think SF's system isn't as wonderful as some say. It's good, of course, and it's easy to live without a car in many areas, but given the amount of praise heaped on it I was expecting something more impressive. Getting to and from downtown from anywhere is usually really easy, but try getting somewhere like the Caltrain station from some parts of town (or to and from many points that aren't downtown) and it can take forever, far longer than it should in a city that small.
The sad thing is, SF would be much more impressive if you just took maybe 1/3 of the BART lines that go way too far out into the suburbs and built that same amount of rail in SF proper. Do we really need BART all the way out to Pittsburg and beyond? They're talking about expanding to San Jose...really? Isn't that what commuter rail is for? It reminds me of those who want the LA Gold Line extended all the way to Ontario airport at the expense of the Wilshire subway.
Seriously, given SF's small geographic size, it wouldn't have taken that much to more rail to make SF a city where you definitely don't need a car, rather than its current status of a city where you probably don't need a car. Build a BART line down Geary and another line up and down Van Ness, Fillmore or some other major north-south route, factor in MUNI coverage, and we're talking about a totally different system.
But regardless, SF still has pretty good public transportation IMO, especially when compared to other cities west of Chicago.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
